


shout it out

by fated_addiction



Category: K-pop, Real Person Fiction, SEVENTEEN (Band), 여자친구 | GFriend (Band)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 11:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12320334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fated_addiction/pseuds/fated_addiction
Summary: Yuju is completely aware of the name on the page, how it sayslee seokminand notchoi yuna.Yuju comes to terms with her feelings. Not only is it messy, it's, like, the worst.





	shout it out

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote fluff. I'm mostly apologizing to myself. But also, I really like these two.
> 
> Also part two, the Sowon/Sinb is mostly squint and it's there. Because I like those two _too_.

-

 

 

 

Blame it on the math book. Literally.

“This isn’t _yours_ ,” Sinb says. Or accuses. Because, you know, Sinb.

“It’s just a math book,” Yuju replies dumbly. The offending math book lays on the bed between them, cover thrown back to the title page. Yuju is completely aware of the name on the page, how it says _lee seokmin_ and not _choi yuna_. “And anyway,” she dismisses, “why are you digging through my stuff?”

“I needed tissues,” Sinb deadpans, equally aware that it’s the worst lie ever, and then shrieks as Yuju launches herself into the bed, trying to grab at the math book. The younger girl is laughing hysterically, loud enough for the sound to echo through the bedroom and into the hallway. 

True to form, Sowon appears at the door with concern. “The two of you –”

“Tissues are in the _bathroom_ ,” Yuju grits her teeth, trying to reach for the book. Sinb laughs delightedly, squirming out of reach. “Give it back!”

“Sojung eonni,” Sinb grins, “did you know that this is –”

Yuju claps a hand over Sinb’s mouth. Her legs are longer and she musters some kind of strength to turn them, straddling her hips. She grabs the book with a free hand, ignoring the younger girl’s laughter, hot and sticky against the back of her hand as she glares and sighs.

“This,” she says. “ _This_ is none of your business. It’s just a book and that’s it. It’s not that exciting, okay?”

Sinb continues to laugh. There are tears forming in her eyes and it’s enough for Sowon to leave the doorframe, climb into the bed and try and separate the two of them. Gently, the older girl removes the book from Yuju’s hand. She offers a glare to Sinb, shaking her head.

“You,” she says, poking Sinb’s head, “leave her alone.” Then she turns to Yuju, smiling with amusement. “And you,” she adds, “ _you_ need to give the math book back. Or confess. Because that works too.”

Yuju’s jaw drops and Sinb is sent into peals of laughter, rolling back onto bed and knocking Yuju into Sowon. No one really says it out loud, but Yuju’s face is burning and the cover of the math book remains open for the world to still see.

It’s her worst kept secret, after all.

 

 

 

 

 

The story itself isn’t complicated.

They started knowing each other vaguely. It got a little more complicated at school; students weren’t just _students_ , they were students with promotional cycles and tiny dorms and fans that sometimes waited outside for them because they weren’t normal people on their off days either. There were a couple of times where he said hello, or tried to say hello, mostly because she would duck and hide and mumble some kind of _hello_ back. 

The truth is pretty simple though: she isn’t sure how it happens exactly, or when it happens, but there’s a natural progression to saying more than just an awkward hello, sharing a math book and then phone numbers for normal people, real normal people. You know, the ones that ask things like “How are you?” without being desperately shy. But she really needed help with a math unit and he just really hated that particular math unit and somewhere in between, it just made sense. Their dance rehearsals were when it escalated, both of them sweaty and trying to ignore the choreographer yelling at them about _chemistry_.

“So I guess this means we’re friends?” Seokmin’s eyes gleamed.

Yuju still remembers that her face was hot, her eyes were too wide, and she really had no place to hide. She only choked. 

“Sure,” She had said. “Of course.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sowon finds her later. “Are you okay?” she asks gently, and maybe, _maybe_ it’s a little weird that she’s held onto the math book.

Yuju is hiding in the bathroom. Sits next to the wall because Sinb is Sinb and is really good at being an ass about these things. She drops her head against the wall and sighs loudly.

“I’m fine,” she says. The math book is next to her legs. She looks up at Sowon. “I just needed some quiet time.”

Sowon smiles, shaking her head. She moves to sit on the toilet, behind over to rest her elbows on her knees. Sowon has a face – she scrunches her nose, sighs again, and you can tell, indefinitely, that she’s reaching for the right thing to say. 

“You don’t need to defend her.” Yuju smiles a little. Sowon blushes. “I know she’s only teasing,” she adds. She waves around. “It’s just, you know, sometimes I wake up with _feelings_ and I’m so not good at that part.”

“You could call him,” Sowon says.

Yuju mildly panics. Her eyes widen. Her hand immediately curls around the math book and she sort of, kind of forgets how to breathe. 

“I _can’t_.”

“You have his number,” Sowon points out. She reaches over, brushing her bangs back. “And I know you haven’t lost it,” she teases a little, “but if you did, I’m sure I could reach out…”

“You don’t understand,” Yuju insists. Then she wails, “I’m so _bad_ at this.”

“There’s no right way to do it.” Yuju huffs and Sowon reaches for the math book, carefully picking it up and leafing through the pages. “Look at me,” she murmurs, mostly to herself, and on cue, Yuju hears Sinb in the hall laughing loudly at something Yerin says too.

Yuju swallows. “I feel like he’s going to ask me when, or I’m going to go and say something like _it’s always been you_ and it’s going to be nothing because we barely saw each other during school and yeah, okay, there was math and we talked and I liked it and that one time we danced too, those weeks of rehearsal and it was really, really nice to be with him and just be me and work me and not have to be careful about it either –”

She stops, wide-eyed, and Sowon laughs.

“You have to start somewhere,” she says.

 

 

 

 

 

So this is how she condemns herself to meeting him at a playground.

“It’s platonic!” Sinb exclaims, maybe whines. She flinches when Sowon pinches her and then pouts prettily at the other girl because they’re _them_.

There is a dark cloud over her head as she talks herself out of it several times, from the dorm to the car, even to her manager oppa’s face, even when he asks her, maybe reluctantly, if she wants him to turn around. Her face feels warm all the way to the park, then as she walks alone to the playground that somehow ends up being between her dorm and theirs.

“You can do this,” she tells herself, much like that time she told herself she could ask him to borrow the book that is sitting in her small backpack. She is also vaguely aware of the spending money that Sowon so totally didn’t but _did_ slip into the first pocket. Sinb can’t keep anything to herself.

She wanders to the swings though. She tells herself things like it’s a nice night, breathes and looks around, before sitting on a swing. She kicks her legs out and starts to sway slowly, watching people pass. There is a couple on a date, two old women pairing off with groceries, and students off to some kind of prep class, groaning with long whispers and sighs.

“You’re really bad with keeping in touch.”

Yuju stiffens, wide-eyed. “I’m not the one who just went overseas,” she stammers.

Seokmin laughs and leans over her, looking down from over her head. “I’m just teasing,” he says. He pokes her forehead. “And a little surprised that you reached out to me. I was actually thinking about you.”

“You were?” she asks in surprise. Can’t hide it at all. It writes itself into the expression on her face. “I mean,” she tries, “you haven’t really texted me either though. Not since your birthday.”

“You’ve been busy, Yuna-yah.” Seokmin sits on the swing next to her, twisting to face her without warning. She’s forgotten how odd the sound of her real name is outside of the girls. “We did warn each other.”

She smiles wistfully. “I know.”

It’s weird not to see him in pictures, or backstage, when it’s dark and everyone around them is panicking, so they can only offer awkward, coarse greetings since no one ever has any time. It’s weird to see him out of uniform, enough so that when she bends over to grab her bag, her fingers fumble and it slips, only for Seokim to catch it.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice light with concern.

“You make me nervous,” she says, blurts really, and claps her hand over her mouth in surprised. Seokmin laughs. “I’m _serious_ ,” she mutters, hitting his arm. She forgets about her bag and turns to look away. “It’s weird, I know, especially since I haven’t seen you in awhile and I have all these feelings because Eunbi found your damn math book and I forget how weird I get around you because I like you, _oh my god_.”

The thing is he lets her finish and, well, she hates that he lets her finish because her mouth is tingling and her stomach flutters with knots. She pushes her hands to her face and sneaks a glimpse of his expression, watching as it warms and his mouth turns into that bright, bright smile.

“Are you confessing?” His response throws her off. She wonders if she should really be surprised. “Because,” he says, “I –”

Yuju narrows her eyes, cutting him off. “Who told you?”

“You did.” Seokmin’s grin widens. “Just now.”

_Now_ Yuju panics. She digs into her bag with fumbling hands, pulling out the math book and shoving it forward into Seokmin’s lap. She makes a strangled sound and it comes from somewhere in the back of her throat, more than sort of embarrassing because she doesn’t know where to look or if there’s anything else to say to him because this isn’t going well and she definitely didn’t come with a plan.

“I’m not good at this,” she says weakly. Waves her hand around. “I can sing loves songs but, like, _words_.”

He laughs. “I thought it was perfect.”

She squeals, her face now bright red, the heat crawling down her neck. Her hand lashes out to hit him, but he catches it with his own, lacing his fingers through hers and dropping it into his lap over the math book.

“You’re lying to me,” she mumbles, looking down.

“I’ve had a crush on you even before, you know, everything –” he pauses and she knows what he means; all of this, school and work and everything in between. Seokmin straightens and squeezes her hand. “I just didn’t know if I should tell you. Or if it was okay. Or if we could even get closer. But then there was school and you asked for help or –”

“Company,” she interjects.

“Company,” he laughs, “with math homework and then us dancing – it’s weird because it was a whirlwind and I know getting caught up is possible and stuff. But I like you. A lot. And you told me. And you kept my book.”

The corner of Yuju’s mouth turns and she laughs, like actually laughs, the sound short and warm. Her knees press forward into his and she stares at the math book, biting her lip.

“I liked being around you,” she says quietly. Hates that she feels impossibly shy, but the words are there and that’s important enough. “I still like being around you,” she adds shyly. “Right now too.”

She feels a little braver though. Her fingers slip from his and she reaches forward, to his face, and in a weird homage to their dance, she lets herself touch him, _actually_ touch him, pressing them along his jaw. His face is warm and her fingertips are careful. There’s a moment and she forgets to breathe, watching him watch her, watching his reaction morph across his face.

His mouth opens. Then it closes. He leans forward a little, maybe even abruptly, his knees pressing back into hers. She isn’t sure when he jerks forward, or how his mouth is suddenly pressing against her jaw; it’s warm, it’s shy, and he’s breathing over her skin and oh god, she even has butterflies again.

“Let’s get better at this,” Seokmin tells her. His voice is low and his fingers grabbing at her hand. He pulls back slightly to press his forehead over hers. “We can figure out the rest of it slowly, but I want to… keep seeing you.”

Yuju laughs and her voice cracks a little. “Okay,” she says. “ _Okay_ ,” she affirms and then impulsively, she jumps and presses her mouth against his in a short, awkward kiss. His mouth is cold from being outside and she swallows back a little of his surprised laugh, smiling when he squeezes her hand and she squeezes back.

It doesn’t matter when they leave each other, or how Seokmin walks her to car, forgetting that she still has his math book, conveniently of course. It doesn’t matter that he adjusts her jacket, greets her manager with a sheepish bow, and then waits to see them back out of the parking lot like them meeting was just a weird, roundabout first date and nothing more. It doesn’t matter that she touches her mouth all the way home, that her heart is pounding in her ears, and she’s back to thinking about him, maybe love struck and definitely nothing but. 

_Next time_ , she thinks. And she’s a little giddy for it.

 

 

 

 

 

(The math book finds itself onto of the kitchen table in the morning. It’s open and _lee seokmin_ is out there, in their space, for everyone to see. 

Sinb rolls her eyes and is pointed enough. “You guys are gross,” she says.)


End file.
